October 04, 2010

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A new poll commissioned by CBS's "60 Minutes" and Vanity Fair magazine finds seemingly low support for a preemptive U.S. attack on Iran.

On Iran, the monthly poll, conducted by CBS's News Election and Survey Unit, asked, "Which one of the following would be most likely to cause you to support a U.S. war with Iran? 1. If Iran tests a nuclear bomb, or 2. If Iran attacks Israel, or 3. If Iran attacks the U.S. fleet in the Persian Gulf, or 4. Only if Iran attacks U.S. soil, or 5. Would you never support a war with Iran?" 25% of respondents said "only if Iran attacks U.S. soil;" 25% said "If Iran attacks the U.S. fleet in the Persian Gulf;" 11% said "If Iran tests a nuclear bomb;" and 10% said "If Iran attacks Israel." 24% of respondents said they would never support a war with Iran.

The poll was conducted at the CBS News interviewing facility among a random sample of 906 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone September 6­–8, 2010, a press statement said.

It asks a somewhat jarring range of questions on the American pop cultural and political zeitgeist, from who Americans consider to be the world's most eligible single woman (Jennifer Aniston beat out Elin Nordegren); to what respondents consider to be the biggest waste of their time (36% of respondents said social networking), to what will bring humankind to an end (34% said "none of the above.")

The poll also found that 63% of respondents said they agree more with opponents to the proposed park51 Islamic community center than with its developer (30%).

UPDATE: Josh Block writes that the Iran question as asked by the above poll was which reason do Americans find to be the most compelling casus belli on Iran. I went back and forth with both organizations sponsoring the poll yesterday, which had (quite confusingly) written up the question asked differently at each site -- (at the Vanity Fair website, the question was described as which one of the following would be most likely to cause you to support U.S. war with Iran?, and at CBS's 60 Minutes site, the question was described as, Which would cause you to support war with Iran. Ultimately was told by CBS that the question as asked by the pollsters (and as reported above) is what one of the following reasons would be most likely to cause you to support U.S. war with Iran. Block in addition interprets the fact that 24% of people did not answer that any of those reasons -- an Iranian attack on U.S. soil, Iran attack on Israel, etc. etc. -- would make them support war with Iran means that the other three-quarters of Americans could be persuaded to support military action on Iran given the right catalyst. CBS's 60 Minutes wrote up the findings very differently: "Only 2 in 10 Americans would go to war with Iran if they either tested a bomb or attacked Israel. A quarter would go if they attacked U.S. soil and another quarter would go if they attacked the U.S. Fleet. Finally, still another quarter of those asked possibly wearied by years of war would not support a war with Iran under any circumstance."

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I doubt that we will ever need to attack Iran. Israel will most likely do that before Iran's nuclear facilities are fully operational. At that point, we'll still have 50,000 troops on the ground in Iraq and at least 40,000 in Afghanistan and will be positioned to help Israel defend itself against other Arab nations.

It's going to happen but since Obama got Russia and China to join in the sanctions against Iran, things look a lot less grim than before for our prospects and those of Israel.

Posted By: I doubt that we will ever need to attack Iran. Israel will most likely do that before Iran's nuclea | October 04, 2010 at 12:35 PM

There's no War going to happen with Iran. Us Americans are only in favor of Wars as long as we don't have to participate in them, or pay for them. The Troops we have in those areas are hanging on by a thread, and will be in NO position to help out Israel if they make the choice of attack on a Country a quarter size of the US.
The reason i believe they have not attacked yet is for the very i reason we have Troops in that area that will be overrun, with no possibility of a Military Draft here in the US.
Once our Troops are out, Israel will have to make a choice, and the only choice for them is to go at it alone.

Posted By: There's no War going to happen with Iran. Us Americans are only in favor of Wars as long as we don't | October 04, 2010 at 01:48 PM

Rick Sanchez was fired from CNN for saying that Jews dominate the media which everyone knows is true. The-Jews-who-control-the-media are of the ultra-Zionist warmongering variety and are trying to lie us into war with Iran the way they lied us into war with Iraq. To do this they perpetually misquote Ahmadinejad. The New York Times 9/24/10 headlined its article “Iran Leader Says U.S. Planned 9/11 Attacks.” But Ahmadinejad did not say that. Similarly, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, formerly of AIPAC, reported that Amadinejad said our government brought about 9/11, and Blitzer cherry-picked a quote from Ahmadinejad’s 9/23 UN speech. It is amazing how misquoted Ahmadinejad has been. Ahmadinejad speaking at Columbia University 9/24/07 and elsewhere on American TV stated that he did not seek the destruction of the Israeli people but only wished for a change in their leadership so as to end their illegal occupations. Ahmadinejad said he would agree to any peace with Israel endorsed by the Palestinian people. On the other hand, the media worships warmongering Netanyahu, ignoring the fact that in April 2002, Netanyahu came over here and “briefed” our senators that Saddam was perfecting nuclear suitcase and satchel bombs to bring into the US. We all know now that this is how we were lied into war by the Israel Lobby neocons.

1. If Iran tests a nuclear bomb
If Iran tests a nuclear bomb, the USA won't have the guts to attack it. Former VP DIck Cheney already stated that the USA did not attack North Korea because it was nuclear-armed, but attacked Iraq because it was "do-able". This is US military doctrine - only attack nations that are weaker and cannot fight back.
2. If Iran attacks Israel
Why would Iran attack Israel if Israel doesn't attack Iran? Israel has never been attacked by Iran, not even in the four major wars against the Arabs. Iran might spout hot air, but Iran has not waged war on any nation for over 400 years, unlike the warmongering USA.
3. If Iran attacks the U.S. fleet in the Persian Gulf
What is the US fleet doing in the Persian Gulf? What business does the USA have in putting its military all over the world? Iran has not attacked anybody yet and has no reason to, although the Americans have a practice of provoking attacks on them to create pretexts. Anything could happen, but I expect the Americans to be the cause of any attacks.
4. Only if Iran attacks U.S. soil
Iran actually has every right to attack US soil. The US Congress has already allocated $400 million to destabilise and overthrow the Iranian government and the CIA is funding and supporting terrorist group Jundullah, which is committing terrorism in Iran. The USA has admitted to infiltrating covert forces into Iran. These are all acts of war and Iran would have every right to attack US soil and it shows the restraint of Iran that it has not funded or supported terrorists to commit atrocities in the USA, unlike the USA, which has done that to Iran.
THe bottom line is that Iran has no nuclear weapons and the USA has never produced any evidence to that effect. Yet the Americans are doing everything in their power to destroy a nation that is doing nothing more than conducting itself legally under international laws and treaties.
The USA is already embroiled in two illegal wars of its own making and has lost both conflicts. The Americans would be insane to start another war with Iran - but we know that the warmongering Americans are insane.

Somewhat misleading to ask about "a war" with Iran. A war implies a full scale invasion, hundreds of thousands of troops, ground combat, hundreds of billions of dollars, lasting years perhaps.
After all that's happened in Iraq and Afghanistan 25% is surprisingly high for supporting a war.
No one is really calling for a war with Iran, anyway. A better question woule be "would you support using force to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities?" An in and out raid along the lines of what Israel did in Iraq or Syria.
I'd suspect the % saying they'd support that would be quite a bit higher than 25%,
It's all in how the question is asked.

reply to willbheard: you are suggesting Ahmadi Nejad’s translations "misquoted" Ok, please enlighten us with the right "quote" in your own version. let every one see it.
reply to Zig: "Iran might spout hot air" they are spouting hot air in every interview, in every speech and each time, these "hot air", costing Iran lots of troubles. Remember he is the result of a fraudulent election. He is not representative of Iranian people.
fyi: Khomeini once said, route to Jerusalem goes through Iraq, and do not forget; not too long ago Rafsanjani, president for two terms, once in a Friday prayer said, we just need an atomic bomb to get rid of Israel. Also remember the war with Iraq could have been stopped on third year , but Khomeini prolonged it for additional 5 more years, and we all know the catastrophic results for both nations, where Iranian are still paying for it dearly.
According to NTP, all nations including Iran are entitled for research and development of nuclear technology, but not under this so called Islamic regime where they have shown in last 31 years they are brutal, murderers, barbaric, superstitious, liar, cheater and not trust worthy, unfortunately hopelessly we are witnessing it every day.

Iran and Syria have agreed to support the Hizballah armed takeover of Lebanon in ten days. Will Obama send in troops to arrest Ahmadinejad before he flies out of Lebanon? Will he send in troops to prevent an Islamic terrorist group from taking over Lebanon?

Afshin, regarding the quotes, by reading the transcript of his UN speech, one discovers he said there were three theories concerning 9/11, the first of which was that we were attacked by terrorists. He did not endorse any view. I already (3:15 PM) referenced his Columbia University speech where he explained he was misinterpreted. It's important to watch or read these speeches and certainly not trust the Israel Lobby-controlled media. Whereas Iran has not invaded another country since the late 18th century and occupies no one, Israel invades and attacks at will and illegally occupies Palestine and parts of Syria and Lebanon. Israel has hundreds of covert nuclear weapons, and its clandestine program has never been under UN oversight. Israel even jailed in solitary confinement Israeli nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu who blew the whistle on the covert nuclear weapons program. Although the IAEA reported concerns that the Iranians were loath to disclose the whereabouts of their nuclear scientists. this is hardly surprising since the Israel secret service Mossad loves to murder them. In a 5/16-17/09 Wall Street Journal op-ed, Israeli journalist and author Ronen Bergman reported that under the current leadership of Meir Dagan, who was head of a secret Israeli assassinations unit in the 70's, the Mossad has focused on sabotaging the Iranian nuclear program, including crashing planes, setting labs ablaze, etc. On 11/24/09, the BBC reported the arrest of an Israeli in Tel Aviv for planting a bomb under a vehicle. Turns out the bomb was a fake, and the man was a Mossad agent-in-training. On January 12, 2010, an Iranian nuclear physicist was blown up by means of a motorcycle bomb. The Mossad operates ostentatiously outside the law as seen with their recent Dubai murder.

The questions on the poll about Iran are utterly stupid. What reason is there to assume that Iran would be so stupid that it would attack anybody? By manipulating the wording on the questions, one can get almost any answer one wants. All the discussion about attacking Iran are just psychological warfare emanating from Israel and the CIA. There is absolutely no reason to even consider an attack on Iran since it is not developing nuclear weapons, it has not threatened any other country and it has not attacked another country for hundreds of years. Shall we enumerate the number of countries that the US and Israel have attacked and threatened since their short existence?

The United Staes, as always willdo whatever Israel wants. Even if Israel acts alone the United Staes will enter the conflict as Israel is incapable of defeating Iran. Mazing how the U.S. has become a client state of Israel. One more thing: beware of a false flag episode.Are those "art students" from Liberty Park still around?

Why does Ahmadinejad not simply patiently explain to the world that the reason we were attacked on 911 - as everybody pretends not to know - was because our atrociously pro-Israeli policies for ethnic cleansing in Palestine and military hegemony over the Middle East that were formulated by our Neocons and Israel Lobby with their outrageous influence over our foreign policy?
Everybody knows it - the 911 Commission knows it and reported it, the Iraq Study Group knows it - OBL himself says it and so does KSM!
Here we have all the US Intelligence services, all our blue ribbon commissions, PLUS OBL and KSM themselves telling the world why we were attacked on 911 - why doesn't Ahmadinejad just AGREE with them?
We were attacked on 911 for our dangerously illegal Pro-Israel policies and for militarily supporting and dominating the Middle East for Israel and Oil.
Simple. As. That.
As soon as 911 took place - the Neocons and Israel Lobby jumped all over it to successfully merge an American 'Long War Against Islam' with their Israeli/Necon 'Clean Break Plan for Securing the Realm'
Americans pretend not to know because any sane person would legitimately question our insane support of illegal Israeli ethnic cleansing that got us whacked in response - and AIPAC will make sure you lose your media/foreign policy/political career if you push that breakthrough because they CAN
Why doesn't Ahmadinejad do himself and America both a favor - like the 911 Commission and our Iraq Study Group

Posted By: Why does Ahmadinejad not simply patiently explain to the world that the reason we were attacked on 9 | October 05, 2010 at 09:17 AM

Why does Ahmadinejad not simply patiently explain to the world that the reason we were attacked on 911 - as everybody pretends not to know - was because our atrociously pro-Israeli policies for ethnic cleansing in Palestine and military hegemony over the Middle East that were formulated by our Neocons and Israel Lobby with their outrageous influence over our foreign policy?
Everybody knows it - the 911 Commission knows it and reported it, the Iraq Study Group knows it - OBL himself says it and so does KSM!
Here we have all the US Intelligence services, all our blue ribbon commissions, PLUS OBL and KSM themselves telling the world why we were attacked on 911 - why doesn't Ahmadinejad just AGREE with them?
We were attacked on 911 for our dangerously illegal Pro-Israel policies and for militarily supporting and dominating the Middle East for Israel and Oil.
Simple. As. That.
As soon as 911 took place - the Neocons and Israel Lobby jumped all over it to successfully merge an American 'Long War Against Islam' with their Israeli/Necon 'Clean Break Plan for Securing the Realm'
Americans pretend not to know because any sane person would legitimately question our insane support of illegal Israeli ethnic cleansing that got us whacked in response - and AIPAC will make sure you lose your media/foreign policy/political career if you push that breakthrough because they CAN
Why doesn't Ahmadinejad do himself and America both a favor - like the 911 Commission and our Iraq Study Group

blutopie, I agree with you. Amadinejad at the UN said there were three theories concerning 9/11, the first of which was that we were attacked by terrorists. He did not endorse any view, and clearly he has been fed misinformation as he said US/Israel orchestration of 9/11 is the theory most Americans believe. This conspiracy theory is widely believed in the Muslim world because 9/11 served Israel’s very useful purpose of dragging the US into multiple endless wars against the enemies of Israel’s illegal occupations, resulting in death or injury to hundreds of thousands of Muslims.

Hey, maybe the public has figured out the whole "war on terra" is a scam that makes a lot of money for a few and the taxpayer gets the bill. Not to mention killing countless thousands of innocents. The federales gave underestimated the anger of the citizenry. We want our country back...now.

If the Vanity Fair in question, is the magazine, while beautifully published - it is also an uber liberal, R trashing entity. And as far as CBS, well, not exactly fair and balanced. I would like to see a poll comparing the iranian leader's words with those of Hitler's when asking any question about Iran vis-a-vis Israel.I find it hard to believe that if members of CUFI were asked these questions they would answer no to the question regarding Israel's viability. Just who were the people polled at any rate?

Perhaps soon someone will implement the "Delilah option" on the insidious crime syndicate known as Israel and we can go from there. (after the trials and executions in the US and Europe, of course)
P.S. Better plug your ears because the cheering will be so loud as to be heard on the moon.

Posted By: Perhaps soon someone will implement the "Delilah option" on the insidious crime syndicate known as I | October 05, 2010 at 05:42 PM

In light of the U.S. media's insistence, contradicting all evidence, that Iran is working on a bomb that has our name on it, it's astounding that 25 percent of Americans wouldn't support a war under any circumstances. This in the "unsuckered quarter", and is very, very heartening. And, yes, we're sick of war, but mostly we're sick of the warmakers.

Segment on PBS Newshour tonight shows how Israelis have systematically stolen Palestinian water resources, turning the once beautiful Palestinian farms and orchards into desert. Meanwhile Jewish settlers torch mosques and leave Hebrew signs "price tag" on the walls. Israel was born out of Jewish terrorism and constructed with lies, deceit, greed and cruelty. No wonder Israelis are paranoid about Iran and other neighbors.

If they attacked US soil or our Navy then we should respond, quickly and decisively. Otherwise no. I don't much care who wins a fight between the Iranians and the Israelis. People I know almost all feel the same way.

The U.S. Government is Israel's *****. Israel has a long record of perfidy toward America ("Lavon Affair" in 1954, atttack on U.S.S. LIBERTY in '67, murders and outrages against American citizens, massive espionage, and the like). What does the U.S. Government do about it? Not a God---- thing.
An attack on Iran would be completely unjustified. Iran doesn't have nukes, nor are they a military threat to anyone.
Israel's the problem, not Iran.

Our country is going broke on these wars. No one who wants war on Iran is a patriot. Same thing with the ones who wanted to attack Iraq: they are not patriots. Same thing with those who want to keep us in Afghanistan: they are not patriots.

Posted By: No more middle east wars for the US | October 05, 2010 at 09:09 PM

Iran is responsible for the prolongation of the war in Iraq and most of the US roadside casualties from more powerful IED's they sent to Iraq. Iran is about to take over Lebanon by joining with Syria to encourage Hizbullah, in violation of UN resolutions already, to take over the Beirut airport again and launch a coup -again- against the Lebanese government. Iran is supporting Syria in undermining the investigation into the assasination of Lebanese President Hariri - issuing arrest warrants for the arrests of judges and prosecutors. Whatever, Will B, Will B.

Why is Israel the USA's responsibility? This state has been nothing but a problem to the world and Americans, in particular, from the time we got first involved. The Zionists turned down several peaceful alternatives, all over the world. The Soviet Union established a peaceful republic in their original Ashkenazi homelands Bierozibhan. The Western European powers were prepared to offer them a jewel like Madagascar on a silver platter. They turned down territory in South America. Gee, don't you think the White Rhodesians and White South Africans facing racial genocide would jump at the chance of being offered a country all of their own to flee to? YES. Is it being offered to them since their countries were taken away from them? NO.
It is time to stop coddling this bunch in Israel. They worked all kinds of mischief to get there and they knew damned well what a hornet's nest they'd be stirring up if they went in, anyway. The USA was not created to pull their chestnuts out every fire they get into. They need to make up their minds; either find a way to get along and co-exist peacefully with their neighbors. Failing that, they need to attack any Iranian threat themselves and fight their own battles. Otherwise they need to forget about living there.
Whether "Iran" attacks America or its navy or not, we cannot afford another war. Any more terrorist attacks need to be vigorously investigated for several months to determine whether or not they are false flag operations by Mossad. Then our Congress needs to unanimously vote for a formal declaration of War.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. TPTB lied about WMD to get us into Iraq. The 9-11 attacks on the WTC look increasingly suspicious. There is absolutely NO reason to believe that another pretense is on the boards to get us into another quagmire we can't afford.
NO MORE WARS FOR ISRAEL.

If only we had listened to Sirhan Sirhan about why he assasinated Robert F. Kennedy we never would have had the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. Sirhan warned us that US support for Israel in the 1967 war was a big mistake,

Jooz are the curse of the planet! The touch of the joo on anything is evil, corrupt and corrosive! The USA needs to stop supporting this evil state that spies on us, manipulates our government and attacks our military.
Iran has signed all the nuclear agreements and abides by them. Israel has signed none and abides by none. The holohoax is the biggest lie of the 20th century, but 6 million less sheeny vampires in the world would be a blessing!
All of the current economic problems are caused by jooz! If you lose your job, can't feed your family or lose your house--the jooz are the ones you should look to for revenge!

willbheard and blutopie; you guys are great and thanks for all you said.
Unfortunately the USA doesn't exist anymore. The US congress is the 4th Israeli colony (after West Bank, GAZA and Golan). 75% of it is composed of Zionists.
I (born muslim but atheist) like Jews and would combat nazis with them; but I don't like when a religion make politics. I don't like it when the mullah's, does politics in Iran and when Jews wants to use their religion to do politics with it, it becomes Zionism.
One can not be at the same time against the iranian regime and accepte the Zionist regime of Israel which is equaly based on a belif, faith or a religion.

The very premise of the poll, that Iran would launch an unprovoked attack on any other country, is totally at odds with Iran's repeatedly stated "no-first-strike"policy. The only possible explanation for such a poll is to incite more fear in the American public.
What we really need is a poll that first lays out the possible consequences of an Israeli or US attack on Iran -- soaring gasoline prices, economic dislocation, American casualties in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf, etc. AND also explains that there is no strong evidence for an Iran nuclear weapons program AND explains that pre-emptive strikes without clear enemy intentions are illegal by international law. THEN, ask folks, would they support an Israeli or US strike. I wonder what the result would be?